Flooding expected in Ireland as snow and ice melt

The Irish meteorological service, Met Eireann, has predicted countrywide flooding today as the return to normal winter temperatures and rain melts the snow and ice.

Across the country pipes are bursting. As the thaw sets in the ground moves which causes older more fragile pipes to burst. On Christmas Day parts of Dublin had their water supply cut off after valves froze. Also areas in Counties Cork, Mayo and Kilkenny had their water cut off.

After almost a month of snow and ice normal temperatures for this time of year (50 F) have returned. Also rain, particularly in the south of the country is expected to increase the chance of flooding. Temperatures today are expected to reach 50F and continue to rise on Wednesday.

Met Éireann forecaster Klara Finkele said “Heavy rain will be persistent over the next couple of days and, together with the melt water, which will obviously be worst where the snow has been heaviest, there could be significant localized flooding.”

Heavy rain will continue into Wednesday. Finkele warned that even areas which avoid the major flooding will have excess surface water on the roads. Thankfully Finkele also predicts a south to southwesterly wind which is expected to stop ice forming on the wet roads.

However after almost a month of snow and ice the Irish police have warned motorists not to get complacent. A police spokesperson said “Flooding causes its own problems on the roads, and just because the snow and ice may be gone, drivers should take care to keep their speed in check.”

Thursday of this week should see drier weather across the country with temperatures in a normal range for this time of year. Finkele told the Irish Times “Wednesday’s temperatures will be around 7-10 degrees[45 – 50F]. Thursday will be slightly lower at 5-8 degrees [41 – 46F], which are far more normal temperatures for this time of year than we’ve been experiencing.

“Friday will drop to 3-7 degrees [37-45 F] and could drop to between minus 1 [30F] and minus 3 [37F] at night, with a touch of ground frost, but it will be nothing whatsoever like we’ve seen recently.

“What we expect to see is a return to normal winter conditions for Ireland,” she said.